urgh, id get a better one...
i'm going back abit, in that article...here goes..
it is interesting and it is well-reasoned, and it explains well...
It is important to realize that, while we regard deafness as a disability, we do not regard
it solely as a disability. Indeed, the more we learn about deafness, the less
we see it as disabling of the whole person. That is not an indication that,
given enough time, we will cease to call deafness a disability, for any time
a person cannot physically do what the great majority of people of the
same age could do if they wanted, we will call that a disability. But thanks to
Margaret, our understanding of disabilities has grown enormously. We
see, for example, that some disabilities are clearly worse than others, and that
some disabilities are so addressable that the term disability seems no
longer to have much practical meaning in their case. We see that at least
one disability, profound deafness, actually opens opportunities for human
growth that we never knew existed. Regarding Conclusion 2, while we
believe deafness results in a genuine culture, one unified around an independent
language system, that does not mean that we see deafness as
merely or even typically cultural. Deaf culture differs significantly from all
other cultures we have encountered. For one thing, other cultures (as opposed
to life-styles) and languages (as opposed to vocabulary) are pa.ssed on
overwhelmingly by parents. Our son Thomas, for example, was not suddenly
born French, and our daughter Theresa was not mysteriously born
Indian Hindu. All of our children were born Anglo-American and they will
always be Anglo-American. But this higb correlation (not absolute,
but high) between parental cultural identity and the cultural identity
of children is manifestly untrue in regard to Deaf culture. Ninety percent of
deaf children have hearing parents, and in our circles at least, the great
maiority of deaf parents have at least some hearing kids. Most deaf children
necessarily, therefore, receive most important Deaf cultural input from
nonparental sources (an unnerving thought for parents who are committed
to forming their children as they believe best), and the emotional consequences
of hearing children not belonging to tbeir deaf parents' cultural
community are apparently significant enough to occasion support groups
designed to address these consequences. Moreover, while culture might well
be transcended (and often it should be), it cannot be changed. Even if I
were fluent in Spanish, had acquired an exclusive taste for Mexican food.
and music, and had lived in Mexico for 20 years, I would not he Mexian
hmmm , what you reckon...interesting?
